Let the people judge them, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile made the statement after refusing the demand of members of the Senate majority to arrest the allies of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. who boycotted the deliberations on the Senate committee of the whole (Scow) report recommending Villar’s censure over the C-5 road extension controversy on the 14th Congress’ last day of session.

Only 11 senators were present when plenary session resumed the other day on the Villar ethics case, one short to make a quorum and effectively preventing a vote on the Scow report that recommended censure on Villar.

Enrile said members of the minority left the chamber after the hearing of the bicameral Commission on Appointments, adding that evidently, some members opted not to attend the session to prevent the disposition of the ethics case.... MORE

What’s to make of these pre-poll presidential surveys and their claimed accuracy in gauging the pulse of the voters, even as a “snapshot” through their so-called scientific methodology, along with random selections of the respondents? The numbers appear to be plucked from thin air.

Take a look at least four surveys, three of which have been conducted at about the same time, and the speed with which they made their findings public: one day after another, and coming up with different figures in the regional areas.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey was claimed to have been conducted between Jan. 21 and 24, with 2,100 respondents nationwide, or just four days, and released on Feb. 1. There were no other details given, save for the numbers obtained by the candidates. No regional data were released, which makes the SWS survey pretty unprofessional and unreliable in not declaring the full data to the public.... MORE

While walking around a Makati City mall recently, I saw someone whose face was once one of the most familiar in this country and whose views and decisions exerted a very strong influence on the Philippines business community. That person was Vicente Tirona Paterno, once the chairman of the Board of Investments (BoI).

It saddened me to see the tall and well-built Ting Paterno walking with the help of a cane. Other than the presence of the cane, the former BoI chief looked hale and hearty. He said that he carried the cane only as a precaution against slippage or a fall.

Only the most hardened critic of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos will disagree that the dictator assembled of the finest national economic management teams that this country has ever known. Vicente Paterno at the BoI was a leading member of that team.... MORE